I'll be the one to win

"Chainsaw Maniac, Texas.

Paramecia-type Chainsaw Fruit user.

Confirmed mastery of Armament Haki! Mastery of Observation Haki unknown!

Bounty: 130 million!

Kills for pleasure!

Our previous assessment of his strength was inaccurate.

Current assessment: his strength exceeds that of a Rear Admiral!"

A Marine placed a wanted poster on Sengoku's desk.

Sengoku pressed his fingers against his brow and said:

"All right, I understand!"

The Marine saluted and left.

Silence returned to the office.

Sengoku picked up the wanted poster.

Unlike other pirates, the man in the photograph didn't look crazed or vicious. Instead, he looked perfectly calm.

But after hearing the report, Sengoku could almost see the turbulent currents lurking beneath those calm eyes.

The man was a lunatic.

Sengoku tossed the wanted poster onto his desk and sighed.

They had lost another fine Marine officer, along with a group of excellent soldiers!

Just then, the office door opened.

An old man with dashing purple hair walked in.

Sengoku blinked at the sight of him.

"Well, what brings you here today?"

Zephyr curled his lip and said:

"Spare me the fancy talk! You know I hate that!"

Sengoku burst out laughing. The pleasure of seeing his old friend dispelled much of his gloom.

"All right! What did you want to see me about?"

As he spoke, he stood up and produced two packets of rice crackers from somewhere.

He kept one and tossed the other to Zephyr.

Zephyr made himself at home, tearing open the packet and taking a bite.

Only after eating half the crackers did he speak:

"Those youngsters want to graduate early now.

Haha, young people just can't be patient!"

He sounded as though he was complaining, but he couldn't hide the delight and pride on his face.

Sengoku paused, then said:

"Graduate early? Randall, Milers, and Aequus?"

Zephyr rolled his eyes. "Who else would it be?"

Only those three could meet his standards.

No, it would be more accurate to say they had far exceeded his expectations.

Sengoku nodded, unsurprised.

After all, early graduation wasn't unprecedented.

Those three monsters currently going through the formalities to become Admirals had all graduated early.

Sengoku said:

"Then we'll follow the usual procedure.

Have them capture a pirate and bring them back!"

For normal graduation, they only needed to follow the procedure and pass the exams Zephyr had set.

Barring any accidents, their lives wouldn't be in danger.

After all, every aspect of the exams was under the Marines' control.

But graduating early wasn't so easy.

There was only one test for early graduation: independently capture a pirate and bring them back.

However, that pirate's bounty had to meet a requirement: it had to exceed 100 million!

And that meant a pirate worth 100 million on the Grand Line, not some overrated pushover from the Four Blues!

Facing pirates for real was the life they would lead once they truly became Marines.

This was a genuine test of life and death!

Still, anyone who dared apply for early graduation probably preferred capturing pirates to going through a tedious series of regimented exams.

Naturally, Zephyr had no objections.

"Then hurry up and hand over the wanted posters!

Didn't that one remark from Roger send the number of pirates soaring?

This is the perfect chance to help you clear that backlog!"

Sengoku sighed and rubbed his brow.

That bastard Roger wouldn't give them any peace even in death!

He had left behind such an enormous mess!

Sengoku had been run off his feet lately.

He truly regretted letting that bastard Roger die so easily!

Damn it!

Opening a drawer, Sengoku took out a stack of wanted posters.

He gave them a quick look, picked out those with bounties around 100 million, and casually tossed them onto his desk.

"These will do. Let them choose for themselves!"

Zephyr picked up the stack of wanted posters without bothering to look through them.

He turned and left.

Sengoku looked at the empty desktop and suddenly paused.

Had he forgotten something?

Before he could think it through, another knock came at the door.

"Come in!"

A Marine opened the door and entered.

He first saluted Sengoku, then said:

"Fleet Admiral Sengoku..."

Zephyr took the stack of wanted posters to the Training Ground.

When the three trainees saw Zephyr approach, they immediately stopped their individual training and stared at him eagerly.

Zephyr chided them with a laugh:

"You boys are that eager to graduate?"

Randall and the other two merely grinned without saying a word.

Zephyr shook his head and said with a sigh:

"Honestly, you three.

Here! These are all the options!

Choose for yourselves!"

The three took the wanted posters and eagerly began flipping through them.

Milers made his choice quickly.

The pirate on the very first poster held a sword.

Though it was only a photograph, Milers could still see the sharpness in his eyes.

This man was a swordsman!

He was an ideal opponent!

Aequus also chose quickly.

His chosen prey was a big, burly man, just like him.

Their choices made Randall glance at them.

They had both picked opponents much like themselves. He wondered whether they believed they had to defeat themselves before they could grow stronger...

Now Randall was the only one who hadn't made a choice.

He kept flipping through the posters until he reached the last one, when his hands suddenly stopped.

"Texas..."

The man in the photograph wore a blank expression.

Among all those ferocious-looking Pirates, his appearance seemed oddly out of place.

He looked far too calm.

Yet for some reason, Randall felt there was something crazed about him.

That piqued Randall's interest in the man.

"I'll take this one!"

He finally made his choice.

Zephyr took the three wanted posters and said:

"I'll give you information on these men later. As for when you leave, that's up to you!"

Zephyr worked quickly. An hour later, all three had received their respective files.

Randall flipped through his file, muttering to himself:

"Hmm, he knows Armament Haki. Not bad.

The Chainsaw Fruit? Hmm, why does that feel strangely familiar?

Chainsaw, Texas... Putting those two words together feels like bad news..."

"What do you say? Want to compete and see who finishes first?"

Aequus spoke with a hint of provocation.

Milers said nothing, but the movement of his eyes suggested he was tempted too.

Randall said:

"How would that work? Who knows how long it'll take just to find our targets!

Besides, they're not all equally strong."

From Randall's response, Aequus and Milers assumed he wasn't interested in competing.

They were just about to provoke him again.

But then Randall abruptly changed tack and declared with absolute confidence:

"But I'll be the one to win in the end!"